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Why is Chandrayaan 3 being launched to the Moon by India, what is a soft landing, and what happens once it arrives there successfully? We explain
The Chandrayaan 3 lunar project from India will start a crucial final stage today as it prepares to land on the moon at about 6:04 p.m. The mission is on schedule as of August 22, according to ISRO, and its live broadcast will begin on Wednesday at 5:20 p.m.
Much is being made of the reality that the Indian Empire will be the only nation to do so if the Lander manages a “soft landing” on the Moon’s south pole. After that, the rover, a little craft designed to travel about on the Moon’s surface, is going to emerge from the Lander.
On July 14, when Chandrayaan 3 launched toward the Moon, we went over the fundamentals of the project, including how a spacecraft enters space, what the Chandrayaan-1 and Chandrayaan-2 missions were, etc. You may read it by clicking here. Here, we look at the importance of a “soft landing” for the mission, the challenges of landing on the south pole, and what occurs when India accomplishes so.
Why is Chandrayaan 3 landing on the south pole and what does a gentle landing entail?
The mission’s three goals, according to ISRO, are to show an easy secure lunar surface landing, lunar rover wandering, and to carry out in-situ scientific research.
Soft landing simply refers to a landing at a slow, regulated speed to prevent spacecraft damage.”Consider a spacecraft hurtling through space at ten times the speed of an airplane and having to almost stop in order to gently touch down on the Earth.” — all in a matter of minutes and, more importantly, without any human intervention,” said Amitabha Ghosh, a scientist for NASA’s Rover mission to Mars. This is a gentle landing, to put it briefly.
Why ISRO wants to look at the south-polar area of the Moon?
By doing this, a spaceship can demonstrate its technical prowess. At a latitude of 70 degrees, the landing spot is close to the moon’s south pole.
Since it is simpler and safer to land here, every previous spacecraft that has touched down on the Moon has done so close to the equator. For a prolonged and sustained functioning of instruments, the terrain and temperature are more favorable. Sunlight is also available, providing solar-powered devices with a consistent source of energy.
But there are differences in the polar regions of the Moon. Temperatures in several areas might go below 230 degrees Celsius since they are located in entirely dark areas without sunshine. The operation of instruments becomes challenging as a result. Large craters may also be seen all over the landscape.
The polar regions of the Moon have thus far been undiscovered. Anything stuck in the area can remain frozen in time, with little to no change, due to the extremely low temperatures. Therefore, the soil and rocks in the north and south poles of the moon may have information about the early Solar System.
Notably, Chandrayaan-2 had also intended to land here in 2019, but it was unable to perform a gentle landing and lost contact once it touched down.
What has changed since Chandrayaan 2’s inability to land correctly?
Chandrayaan 2 in early 2019 suffered issues with both the hardware and the software, according to later investigations. The revisions to the present mission, according to Isro Chairperson S Somanath, are “failure-based.” He explained, “Instead of a success-based design in Chandrayaan-2, we are doing a failure-based design During Chandrayaan-3, we examine potential issues and potential solutions. Some additional improvements were also made:
*Chandrayaan 2 lost control during a fall at a distance of 7.2 km from the Moon’s surface. Up to 400 meters above the ground, its communications system transmitted information about the loss of control. When it crashed, the Lander had slowed to roughly 580 km/h.
The legs of Chandrayaan 3 have been reinforced to guarantee that it will be able to land and be stable, even at a speed of 3 m/sec, or 10.8 km/hour. A lander does not have wheels; instead, it has stilts or legs that are intended to touch down on the lunar surface.
*The potential landing site’s range has been extended. The current mission has been given orders to land safely anywhere in a 4kmx2.4km region rather than attempting to land in a specified 500mx500m patch like Chandrayaan-2 was designed to do.
Launch of Chandrayaan 3 and comparison with Chandrayaan 2 in 2019?
*Compared to Chandrayaan 2, the Chandrayaan 3 Lander is carrying greater fuel. This has been done so as to give Lander the flexibility that needs to adjust its landing place at the last minute.
A Chandrayaan 3 Chandrayaan 2 only has two sides with solar panels; Lander has four. This is to make sure that even if the Lander falls incorrectly or topples over, it will still be able to gather energy from the sun. It would stay active and at least one or two of its sides would constantly be facing the Sun.
What must occur in order for Chandrayaan-3 to land safely?
The Chandrayaan 3 Lander will need to convert from its high-speed horizontal position to a vertical one in order to facilitate an easy descent on the lunar surface on August 23 during the mission’s last 15 minutes of trying to land softly on the moon approach.
The failure of Chandrayaan 2’s soft landing mission was referred to as “15 minutes of terror” by K Sivan, the then-chairman of ISRO. There are four stages to it:
- The lander’s horizontal velocity would be reduced from a range of 1.68 km/sec (more than 6,000 km/h) at a height of 30 km above the lunar surface to virtually zero for a gentle landing at the chosen spot during the rough braking phase. This must be completed precisely and within a set amount of time. For a more thorough explanation, see this explainer.
- The lander will enter an “attitude hold phase” lasting about 10 seconds at a height of 7.42 kilometers above the surface. It will tilt from a horizontal to a vertical position over its 3.48-kilometer journey.
- The “fine braking phase” will take around 175 seconds, and the lander will fully ascend to the vertical position during this time. The balance of the 28.52 km to the landing spot will be traveled by aircraft as it descends to an altitude of 800-1,000 m and reaches a nominal speed of 0 m/sec. Chandrayaan-2 lost control during the transition between the “attitude holds phase” and the “fine braking phase,” which led to the disaster.
- “Terminal descent” is the last phase, during which the spacecraft is meant to land completely vertically.
What happens once Chandrayaan-3 successfully touches down on the Moon, then?
Payloads, or the items that spacecraft take with them to monitor and record events in space, are frequently carried by spacecraft. Scientists on Earth then get this information to assess and investigate.
The six payloads on the Pragyan rover and the Vikram lander were identical to what they were on the last mission. Chandrayaan-3 has the goal of examining lunar quakes, lunar surface temperature characteristics, changes in the plasma near the surface, and a passive experiment to assist in precisely calculating the distance between Earth and the Moon, the lander will include four scientific payloads. NASA is responsible for the fourth payload.
The Mars Rover has two payloads that are intended to analyze the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface and to identify the proportions of elements like magnesium, aluminum, and iron in the lunar soil and rocks.
Chandrayaan 3 Successful Launch to Land | India
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